Review: Keynote Remote App

Up till last month, the official way to control Keynote was to use the Apple Remote.  At MacWorld last month, Apple released the Keynote Remote app for iPod touch / iPhone.  The app costs $0.99 and with it you can control your presentations with your touch or iPhone.  

So why would you use the Keynote Remote app on your iPhone over the regular Apple Remote:

• one less thing to carry
  
• you can see your notes (in portrait mode)
  
• you can see your next slide (in landscape mode) 
  
• it's connected via wifi so you don't have to worry about pointing anything to your computer and make sure it receives the signal
  

And reasons for sticking with the classic Apple Remote

• extra step of setting up and make sure your iPhone is linked with your computer via wifi
  
• if your presentation is filled with videos, the Apple Remote may be preferred.  As the Keynote Remote app does not have any video or playback controls for the videos.  This means you can't pause or rewind during when a video is playing.  
  
• if you usually stand rather close to your computer for presentations
  

My verdict

I do most of my presentations as clients' office, so I do everything I can do to speed up my set up time.  On top of that, my presentations are filled with videos, and playback controls are critical.  For now, I'll be sticking with the Apple Remote as my presentation remote.

There are some stuff I wish they implement in the future like display the time and elapsed time of the presentation as an option instead of notes, for example.  And, hopefully one day I could load presentation files and play them back in a slideshow without connecting to a computer so I can rehearse during the commute to my clients' offices.

Personally I think this app should be free as the only users are people who actually bought iWork and use Keynote.   But at $0.99 and if you're a heavy Keynote user, you might want to check it out.